career. Ms Burke stated that “none of us can do these roles without our family support. None of us are here on our own. Without our staff, without our electorates and without our families we do not do this job. It has been 14 years for me in this Parliament. I have had both my children since being here, so obviously my husband has been an enormous support over those many years
Deputy Speaker earlier in this Parliament because the politics of this Parliament meant that your own party did not see fit to nominate you as Deputy Speaker. I regret the fact that you were unable to accept our nomination as Speaker back in November of last year—I think you would have done an outstanding job in the chair after the member for Scullin was for one reason or another unable to continue. I do regret the fact that you have come late to this chair; nevertheless, let me say that you have served very competently in the time you have acted as Speaker in this chamber, and I am confident that you will
discharge your duties faithfully and honourably for the duration of this Parliament.
Senate Estimates Senate supplementary budget estimates were held between 15 and 18 October. Estimates hearings are considered one of the most effective mechanisms for scrutinising the performance and accountability of executive government. The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee scrutinized representatives from the Attorney-General’s Department about the sexual harassment
claims made by Mr James Ashby against the former Speaker Mr Slipper. Sen. the Hon. George Brandis claimed that the Commonwealth’s claims against Mr Ashby were bordering on vexatious. Senator Brandis stated that “the crowning irony here is that your claim against Ashby was that he was being vexatious. I put it to you that both of the Commonwealth’s applications were themselves bordering on the vexatious. The first of them, which had absolutely no prospect of success based as it was on inferences drawn from contestable facts, was designed to put the maximum pressure
THIRD READING: AUSTRALIA Hon. Tony Abbott, MP
and I really do need to thank him for that”. The Prime Minister noted Ms
Burke’s contribution to Parliament and the positive role model that she provided stating that “as recently as this morning I spoke at a women’s breakfast about women’s roles in Parliament and women’s roles in leadership. I spoke about the trailblazing role of Joan Child in this Parliament, being the first woman to serve as Speaker. It is fitting indeed that 26 years later we are here welcoming another woman as Speaker of this Parliament. For other women and girls who may be looking at this place and thinking about what could potentially be their role within it, your election to the speakership today provides another role model for them. My personal congratulations go to you—my congratulations as Prime Minister and my congratulations as federal Labor leader”. Mr Abbott commented that
“Madam Speaker, I regret the fact that you were unable to be the
Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Screening) Act 2012 The legislation amends the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 to provide that a person is taken to consent to any screening procedure when at an aviation screening point and must receive clearance to board an aircraft or to enter an area or zone of a security controlled airport. In addition the Act enables body scanning technology to be used for security screening at Australian airports providing that they do not store or transmit an image of the person or any personal information. The legislation removes the choice or offer of an alternative method of screening at an aviation screening point, unless a physical or medical reason is given. The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Hon.
Anthony Albanese, MP, noted that on 25 December 2009, a passenger attempted to bomb Northwest Airlines flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit. The non-metallic device was concealed inside the passenger’s underwear and was therefore able to be carried through a walk-through metal detector without triggering any alarm. Mr Albanese advised that “this event highlighted a significant vulnerability in global aviation security screening practices, including in Australia”. In response to this threat, the government announced a range of measures including the introduction of body scanners. Mr Albanese commented that the introduction of body scanners “will ensure that Australian travellers are afforded the highest level of protection against aviation terrorism, bringing Australia into line with countries such
as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands”. The Minister noted that “the benefit of introducing body scanning technology is that it can identify a variety of sophisticated threats that cannot be detected by existing screening technology”. In relation to privacy concerns Mr Albanese stated
that “this technology has the ability to identify areas of concern on a generic human representation, similar to that of a ‘stick figure’—that is, each male outline looks the same as any other male outline, and every female outline looks the same as any other female outline. There are no defining characteristics available under this technology. The operator will not view raw images such as those produced by first generation body scanning technology”. During debate in the Senate, Senator Barnaby
Joyce commented that the legislation was “yet another example of a positive agenda where the coalition and the government can come to an agreement on something that is definitely to the benefit of the Australian nation, especially in areas relying on security”. Senator Joyce noted that the legislation “will repeal section 95A, the opt-out rule, which currently allows for the choice of a frisk search over another screening procedure”. Senator Joyce stated that “while in the United States I went both through the scanning booth and was frisked, and I tell you right now I would prefer the scanning booth—the frisking is quite an experience. Interestingly, the United Kingdom also has a no-opt-out policy and, of the 1.5 million scans conducted, there have only been 12 occasions of passengers refusing to undergo a scan”.